The Centipedian Incident

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: "It was the worst experience of my life."

The Centipedian Incident

“It’s all in my report, Sir.

At the time, I remember thinking that it was the worst experience of my life. Who wouldn’t? The Centipedians invaded with such ferocity that all I could do was blow out the giant cargo door. Luckily, they are no more immune to space vacuum than us.

It was as if the entire thing took place in slow motion. We were cruising along on our way to deliver supplies to Outpost Theta-Four when they began to beam aboard. They looked like giant green worms with blasters. The slaughter began almost immediately.

I was on the command bridge at the time. The captain was there and was probably the very first one they shot. He never even had a chance to get out of his chair.

I got lucky. While they were targeting the command crew, I sneaked over to the weapons locker. Staying low, I loaded myself down with enough weapons and armor to outfit an entire squad.

You should have seen their faces when I popped up from behind the navigation console. If you have never seen a surprised worm, you are missing something special. They hesitated for a nanosecond, giving me the time I needed.

Lucky for me, they’re easy to kill. My blaster was opening them up like a hot knife through butter. I began to think we had a chance. At the time, I still though there was a “we”. Turns out there was just me. After a few minutes, it got real quiet. I thought it was all over.

Then the second wave hit.

I did the only thing I could. I blew the blast door and threw myself into a life-pod.

Now that I look back on it – I’m certain that was the worst experience of my life.”

Word count 299